“Okay. Go up to him,” she said, stepping back. “Now.”
I took a deep breath and walked out.
Mrs. Fennel was waiting at the end of the hallway. She looked at me as I approached her, and nodded. “This is for you,” she said. She reached for my left hand and slipped a ring over my pinkie. It was identical to the ring Ava wore. “Wear it well,” she said.
I looked at it, touched it, and then looked at her. She was actually smiling warmly at me.
“You’ve come a long way from the little girl who used to help me in my herbal garden. We’re going to be proud of you, as proud as you will be of yourself. Tonight you will truly become your father’s daughter.”
I looked behind me. Ava was standing there smiling as well. Mrs. Fennel nodded again and went into the living room. I gazed at the stairway. Right now, it resembled a steep hill to climb.
“Go on,” Ava whispered close to my ear. “Get his blessing.”
I started up the stairway. My legs felt heavier and my breathing harder. Get hold of yourself, I thought. You could bring the whole house down on you tonight. I sucked in my breath, fixed my clothes, and primped my hair one more time before knocking on his door.
“Come in, Lorelei,” Daddy called.
He was lying in his big bed with all the curtains closed and only a small lamp on. It threw a deep yellow glow over his face. His eyes were darker than ever. He pushed himself up on his pillow and beckoned for me to draw closer.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “I’m simply conserving my energy for later. You do look breathtakingly beautiful, Lorelei. I can feel your sexual energy. It’s fully blossomed within you. You’re truly irresistible.”
He held his hand out for mine and pulled me gently to him. Then he kissed me on the forehead. His lips felt so hot I thought they might burn me if he held them there much longer, but he didn’t stop. He moved them down over my eyes, my cheeks, until they were at my lips, moving as if his lips were an artist’s paintbrush and he was outlining the picture on his canvas. I had become his canvas in many ways, I realized. His lips grazed mine, and then he kissed me harder.
The feelings that flowed through me came as a frightening surprise. They were frightening because they filled me with unexpected pleasure. He had often sat me on his lap, had comforted me when I went to sleep and had bad thoughts, and had worn the mantle of my father and protector as I grew up. I had never dreamed he would touch me in places girls reserved for other men.
“Yes,” he said. He was like the love chef sampling his newest creation. “I can taste your sex. You are so ready, and Av
a has been a good influence on you, hasn’t she?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“I want you to understand that what you are doing tonight is carrying on a great history, enabling it to live. You bring immortality to me. You will truly be one of us now. Are you excited?”
“Nervous,” I said, and he laughed. He had kissed me, held me, and looked into my eyes and had not seen what I had expected and feared he would see.
“That will come and be gone forever after tonight.”
He touched the ring Mrs. Fennel had given me.
“These are all made out of the Patio stone. As long as you wear it now, you will be one of us and protected. Go now, my darling daughter, and begin to fulfill your destiny.”
He released me and slipped back down onto the pillow.
“I have to rest a while,” he said. He closed his eyes.
I stared at him for a few moments. I could see the paleness in his face. I thought I even saw lines where there had never been any. And then, suddenly, his eyelids opened again, and instead of the ebony black, there was a blazing red. It stabbed me with an electric sharpness that penetrated my heart.
I turned and hurried off like someone who had seen her own death.
19
Judgment Day
“Did he give you his blessing? Wasn’t it wonderful?” Ava asked me when we started out of the house.
“Yes,” I said, and got into the car.
“And he gave you the family stone,” she said, nodding at my new ring. “I hope you realize how lucky you are now, Lorelei, and what a privilege it is to make sacrifices for Daddy.”